Hiya Harry
by Sploogal
Summary: Part of the Legacy Series but may stand alone James is stressed and Sirius is hung-over. What good can possibly be salvaged from this situation? Well, Harry's being born, for starters... Complete.
1. A Great Furry Maggot

**Disclaimer: You think I own Harry Potter?  What kind of flowers have you been sniffing?**

**Hiya**** Harry**

**Chapter 1: The Great Furry Maggot**

James Potter paced back and forth in a small room in St Mungo's Hospital.  His wife, Lily, was in the next room giving birth to their child.  She seemed quite calm about the whole thing – she was Lily, after all – but James was going to pieces.

Almost half an hour previously, James had been sitting with Lily, holding her hand.  Unfortunately for James, after a few minutes of listening to him worry about everything that could possibly go wrong, Lily had had him thrown into the waiting room.

James' three best friends, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, were sitting on dull grey chairs near the door.  Remus was watching James with a half exasperated, half amused look on his face, trying to convince him to calm down and stop pacing.  Peter was trying to help Remus but kept on leaving sentences half finished as he covered huge yawns.

Sirius wasn't helping.  He wasn't trying to help either.  In fact, he wasn't even _pretending to be helping.  His head was resting on Remus' shoulder and he was snoring.  Loudly._

"James, you have nothing to be worried abo-" Peter cut himself off with a yawn and Remus continued for him.

"Peter's right James!  Calm down and _stop pacing!  You've been here since ten o'clock.  It's now," he checked his watch, "Three-thirty-two in the morning."_

"Calm down?" James half screamed.  "_Calm down!  You're telling me to calm down?!  Have you got __any idea at all what is going on in the next room?"_

Sirius picked this moment to wake up.  He stared at James blearily through one slightly bloodshot eye.  "You're _still_ here?"

James let out a loud noise that could have been anything from a scream to a roar.

"_Yes I'm still bloody here!  My child is being born and I don't intend on leaving at any time in the near-"_

"Keep your voice down you idiot!" Sirius groaned.  "Can't you tell I'm hung-over?"

Remus groaned as James rounded on Sirius.

"You're hung-over?" he whispered dangerously.

"Yes, so I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't-"

"I'm going to make you wish you didn't know what 'hung-over' means!" James roared as close to Sirius' ear as possible.

"Too late.  I've already made that wish." Sirius muttered.

"Prongs," Remus said in the kind of voice one usually reserves for calming down a small child who is throwing a large tantrum.  "Why don't you sit down and relax for a bit?"

"Well, you see Moony, there is a small problem with that." James replied, staring pointedly at Sirius.

"What?" Remus asked patiently.

"Someone is sitting in my seat."

Sirius made a show of looking around.  "Who's in your seat?"

Peter stood up.  "Oh, for Merlin's-" yawn "Sake!  Have my seat James."

"I don't want your seat."

Peter looked a little put out.

"What's wrong with his seat?" Remus asked.

"Sirius has the most comfortable seat."

"How do you know that?" Peter questioned.  "They all look the same!"

"Easy." James replied.  "Sirius is sitting in it."

At a pointed look from Remus, Sirius got out of his seat.  James simply looked at it before returning to his pacing.

"You're going to wear a hole in the floor, mate." Sirius informed him and proceeded to force him into the uncomfortable grey seat that he had previously occupied.

When James tried to get up, Sirius sat on him.

"Get off me you great furry maggot!"  James protested weakly.

"Great furry maggot?  I prefer great furry _cuddly maggot, thankyou very much!" Sirius retorted._

As James opened his mouth to reply, Lily's best friend, Mable, stuck her head through the door.

"James?  Are you under there?"

"He sat on-" James started grumpily.

"Never mind that now!" Mable said with a grin.  "You're a father!"

Sirius jumped up, pulling James up with him, and started a victory dance of sorts around him.

"Prongsie is a daddy!  Prongsie is a daddy!  Prongsie is a daddy!"

James pushed him aside and stared at Mable.

"I think this is the bit where you walk through the door." Sirius said to James in a stage-whisper.

"Are you ok James?" Peter asked walking over to him.

"Ja-ames?"  Remus waved his hand in front of James' face.  "Hello?  Anyone home?"

Mable stepped up to James and poked him in the head.  "Wake up.  You have a son."

James continued to stare.  Mable exchanged a glance with Remus before flicking James' nose.

"Nope.  Nothing."

"I know what to do." Sirius said with an air of superior intelligence.

The others looked dumbfounded and Remus gestured for him to continue.

"Step away from him." Sirius instructed the other three, then muttered to himself.  "This is going to hurt."

He stepped in front of James, took a deep breath, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "_James-wake-up-your-baby-is-dying!!!"_

James punched Sirius on the jaw and rushed into the next room.  Remus patted Sirius on the shoulder and proceeded into the next room with Peter and Mable.  Sirius followed them, rubbing his jaw and cursing under his breath about best friends who turned catatonic on account of the arrival of a baby.

**A/N What'd'ya reckon?  Is it worth continuing?**


	2. Baby Drool

**Disclaimer: Nup.  Not mine.  Except for Eveline Miles and Mable Coomb.**

**A/N I've decided to two more chapters to this for now, just to give it a little closure.  Eventually this will feature in the sequel to "Seven Years at Hogwarts" but for now it will be on its own.**

Lily and Eveline looked up when they heard footsteps coming into the room.  James was standing at the door looking very unsure of himself.  Lily smiled tiredly at him and called him over.

"James, you're a father!" she said happily.

James peered closely at the small bundle that Lily was holding.  His child.  His son.  He noted the tuft of jet black hair on the top of the baby's head and sighed.  Lily looked at him sharply.

"What's the matter?"

"He got my hair." James said, sounding slightly mournful.

Looking closer, he noticed his son's eyes.  "Aren't babies supposed to have blue eyes when they're first born?"

"He must take after his father with more than just the hair – he's a rebel too." Lily said, staring into the emerald green pools of her baby's eyes.

"He's not a rebel, he's a trend-setter." James corrected.

"Why don't you take him?" Lily asked.

James backed away looking a little scared.  "I'll drop him!"

"No you won't!" Lily said with a giggle.

Mable and Eveline pushed James closer to Lily so that she could hand him the baby, then, seeing that he was perfectly capable of holding him, they left the room.  James sat down in the chair beside Lily's bed and stared at the tiny infant in his arms.

"Lily?"

"Yes dear?"

"He's trying to eat me."

"Nonsense dear."

"No, really!" James said, feeling a little alarmed.  "I think he thinks I'm food."

"Don't be silly James." Lily said with a laugh.  "He's not trying to eat you."

"Yes he is!  Look at him!  He's chewing on my sleeve!" James cried.

Lily reached over and pulled James' sleeve out of the baby's mouth.

"He's not eating you." she said firmly.

"What are we going to name him?" James asked.  "I mean, I know we agreed on Henry, but he doesn't look like a Henry at all!"

Lily sighed.

"What?" James asked.  "He doesn't!"

"What about Harry?"

James looked at the newborn.  "Harry." he repeated.   "That's perfect.  Harry James Potter."

"It has got a little bit of a ring to it." Lily agreed.

"Lily?"

"Mmm?"

"He's eating me again."

Harry was sucking on James' thumb.

"I hope you washed your hands." Lily commented.

"They're clean." James said.  "But you should be worrying about me, not him.  I'm the one being eaten here!"

"Why don't you go and call the boys in?" Lily asked.

James nodded and stood up.  He gave Harry back to Lily and tried to take his hands away.

"Um, Lily?"

Lily looked from Harry to James with twinkling eyes.

"He's got my thumb.  He won't let go."

Lily pried Harry's tiny hands from around James' thumb.

"He likes you." she said.

"How can you tell?" James asked, grinning at Harry.

"Well, the fact that your hands are covered in baby drool is a dead giveaway." Lily giggled.

James looked down at his sticky hands, then looked back at Harry, who was now sleeping in his mother's arms.

"That's my son's drool on my hands." he said happily.  "My _son's_ drool!  Can you believe it?  _My son_!"

Lily smiled and the corners of her eyes crinkled with suppressed laughter.  "You're a daddie." she said.  "And I'm a mummie."

"I'll go and get the guys."

***

Sirius, Remus and Peter had spoken briefly with Eveline and Mable when they'd left Lily's room, but the girls had both left quickly to get some coffee.  When the doors opened again, they all jumped out of their seats.  James was standing in front of them, grinning so widely that they could see every tooth in his mouth.

"The kid must be something special if he's got James grinning like that." Remus commented.

"I'm a father!" James whispered.

Sirius shot James a look of astonishment.  "Really?  And it took you this long to notice?"

It was testimony to how happy and shocked James was that he didn't send a return-insult Sirius' way.

"You wanna come and see him?" James asked, still whispering.

"Are you kidding?" Sirius asked, also whispering.  "Of course we want to see him!"

"What's his name?" Peter whispered questioningly.

"Harry." James whispered back.

"Why are we all whispering?" Remus asked quietly, but not quite in whisper.

"Shhh!"  James glared at Remus.  "You'll wake him!"

Remus, Sirius and Peter shared an exasperated look.

"James?" Sirius asked.

"What?"

"The door's closed and that room has a silencing charm on it."

"Good point." James agreed.

"James?  Why are your sleeves wet?" Remus asked.

"I nearly got eaten by my son."

Remus decided not to ask any more questions until James had calmed down a little.

"Now be quiet." James ordered.  "We're going in."

Sirius elbowed Remus.  "He's acting like he's on an auror raid or something!" he said, trying to stifle a laugh.  He put his hands to his eyes, miming omnioculars, and ducked slightly as though hiding behind a bush.  "Quiet now, we're moving in!"

James punched his friend lightly on the shoulder.  "Shut up Padfoot."

Sirius grinned.

**A/N Thanks to everyone who reviewed this.  For those of you who skipped the note at the top, I will only be adding one more chapter to this.  For now, anyway.  It will eventually become part of a sequel to "Seven Years at Hogwarts", but for now, it's just a cute little scene.**


	3. The Godfather

**Disclaimer: I, Sploogal, do hereby officially disclaim this.**

Sirius, Remus and Peter followed James to the bed in the middle of the room where Lily was resting.  She was staring at the infant in her arms with a look of love and utter devotion.

"Wow Prongs." Sirius said hoarsely, seeing his best friend's child for the first time.  "That's gotta be the cutest thing I ever saw."

James smiled contentedly and sat down next to Lily.

"Congrats Prongs." Remus grinned, shaking James' hand.  "You're a father."

Peter yawned widely.  "He sure is a special looking baby."

Harry woke up suddenly and giggled.  He looked from adult to adult until his eyes rested on James.  He giggled again.

"Um, Lily?  Dear?  Why is he looking at me like that?"  James asked, slightly panicked.

"Like what James?"

"Like, well, like _that_."

Harry reached clumsily for James' hand and quickly latched onto his thumb.  James pulled lightly, trying to claim back his thumb, but the baby held on tight, refusing to let go.  James gave up quickly and resigned himself to admiring his child.

Harry began the enormous task of covering James in drool, starting with his thumb.

"Does that answer your question mate?"  Sirius asked with a laugh.

James nodded happily.  "Can you believe it?  I'm being drooled on by my son."

"If he's anything like you, that's quite easy to believe." Peter said lightly after staging a moment's thought.

James scooped up the infant in his arms and advanced on Sirius.  Sirius peered closely at Harry's face and frowned.

"Don't new-borns usually have blue eyes?" he asked.

"That's what I said," James replied.  "But apparently they don't."

"Hmm."

"Sirius," James looked at Lily, who nodded for him to continue.  "We'd like you to be Harry's godfather."

Sirius stared for a moment.  "Me?"

"Yes, you."

"Are you nuts?" Sirius exclaimed.  "I'd mess it up!  I'm the worst godfather anybody could ever have!  I was under the impression that you cared about this kid?"

"Then who do you think would do a better job?" James demanded, slightly amused.

"Anyone!" Sirius said, sounding very panicked.  "I mean, Peter isn't impulsive, and he doesn't have a temper that flares up at the slightest little thing – he's not very likely to chuck the kid out the window the first time he starts crying!  Remus is organised and responsible, and he has no temper to speak of!  He could actually do a decent job of looking after Harry if, Merlin forbid, anything should happen to you.  Lily, talk some sense into the man!"

Lily chuckled.  "I think it's a bit late for that.  He's beyond anyone's help."

"Thanks love." James laughed.

"Anytime."

"Come on Sirius, you're my best friend." James wheedled.  "I know you'd never do anything to hurt Harry."

Sirius looked like he was about to collapse.  "But James, you know me.  I've never had a responsible day in my life!  Lily, you're the one who's always telling me to act my age!  I can't be a godfather, I'm too childish!"

"That's exactly why we want you to be his godfather, Sirius." Lily told him.  "Because you'll always be a little kid at heart.  You'll never be a boring person who's too focussed on his career or anything else to just relax and have fun.  We know you can deal with responsibility because otherwise you'd never have been accepted into the Ministry.  And we know you can think straight and act quickly in demanding situations.  You've been doing that since before your first year at Hogwarts."

"Anyway, the Ministry won't let Remus be anyone's godfather, for obvious reasons, and you know how Peter gets when you put him under pressure."  James continued when Lily ran out of things to say.  "No offence Peter."

"None taken."

"We want you to do this for us because you're a good, kind and loyal friend, and you'd never hurt us or Harry.  We trust you, even if you don't trust yourself."

Sirius sighed and looked at Harry.  "You know, I kinda feel sorry for the little bugger."

James looked affronted.  "Why's that?"

"His parents are complete lunatics"

"Then you'll do it?"  James asked with a grin.

"Well, the poor kid has to have at least one adult figure in his life who he can look up to."  Sirius joked.  "Imagine if he turned out like you, Prongs!"

Remus and Peter groaned in unison.

James handed Harry over to Sirius, who quickly sat down, cradling the child in his arms.  He stared down into the emerald green pools that were Harry's eyes and smiled at him.

"Hiya Harry."

**A/N  I just had to make that the last line.  Just _had_ to.  I know this wasn't as funny as the last couple of chapters, but I didn't really want this chapter to be very funny.  I thought it needed a serious side to it, because it is the birth of a child that we're talking about here, and that is a very important event.  I figured too much humour would take away from that a little.**

**Anyway, that's the end of this little ficlet thingy for now.  It will eventually feature in "After Hogwarts", which is the sequel to "Seven Years at Hogwarts".  I say eventually because I haven't started writing that yet.  I'm not even halfway through "Seven Years" yet, so the sequel's a little while off.**

**Please let me know what you think this ficlet.**


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